A police officer said his statement about the Hillsborough disaster had “obviously” been manipulated before it went off to the Taylor Inquiry - the public inquiry set up following crush which killed 96 Liverpool fans.

The jury heard Stephen Thomas, who was a mounted police officer on duty outside the Leppings Lane end of the stadium, was told not to complete a pocketbook entry regarding the events of April 15, 1989.

During questioning by Pete Weatherby, representing 22 of the bereaved families, Mr Thomas agreed he was given this instruction by an inspector, and said it was passed down from the top of the chain of command.

Asked was this a surprise to him, he said “Most certainly, yes.”

Mr Weatherby asked: “It is a highly unusual request to make and not one which appears to have any sense?”

“Correct, yes,” said Mr Thomas.

“The point is, that once it is committed to the pocket notebook, you can't really amend it, can you?” said Mr Weatherby.

“No,” said Mr Thomas.

“You can amend it, but it is obvious?"

“Yes,” said Mr Thomas.

Mr Thomas said he didn’t realise his statement had been amended - leaving in negative comments about fans - and agreed it was “quite wrong”.

“It was your evidence being manipulated before it went off to the Taylor Inquiry?” said Mr Weatherby.

“Yes, obviously,” said Mr Thomas.

“That’s right, obviously,” Mr Weatherby confirmed.

“Yes,” said Mr Thomas.

Mr Thomas made his statement on April 29, 1989 - a fortnight after the disaster.

Some opinion about ticketless and drunk fans was scored out, while other comments about alcohol and fans disregarding the safety of people at the turnstiles remained in the statement.

Ms Lambert asked: “Was there any discussion with you that you can remember concerning the removal of this part of your statement?"

“No,” said Mr Thomas.

Referring to the day of the disaster, Ms Lambert asked: “In your judgement, was the control of the crowd lost by the police officers, mounted and foot?”

"In hindsight, yes,” said Mr Thomas.

Ms Lambert asked if he was aware of that at the time. “Yes. I would definitely say that, yes,” he said.

Liverpool fans outside Leppings Lane end before the disaster

Mr Thomas said he thought control was lost from 2.15pm to 2.30pm as more fans arrived.

Asked if the behaviour of the crowd was influenced by alcohol, Mr Thomas said: “It might be strange to think this, but when you get a compact crowd in one area, you can actually smell the air, and the air smelt of alcohol.”

In his statement, Mr Thomas observed that fas wouldn't listen to advice and disregarded the safety of people at the front of the turnstiles and what was said to them.

“It was just as though they were oblivious. They just wanted to get past the police horses,” he said.

He thought they had enough mounted officers to deal with the crowd, but realised they needed more.

Mr Thomas said: “Yes, I accept that,” and agreed some of the crowd told him they couldn’t move back.

He said people were ignoring him from a couple of yards and some were pushing past the horse, but said he can't say whether it was because they were being pushed or because they were just so stupid as to ignore what was being said.

Mr Thomas accepted that he can't make blanket assertions about what the crowd was or wasn't doing.

Asked by Mr Wilcock if he has got carried away saying he could smell alcohol in the air in the crowd, Mr Thomas said: “I can't possibly remember whether I did or not, to be honest.”

He remembers a can being thrown, adding: "I'm trying to think back 25 years."